Rings (リング,Ringu?), also sometimes referred to as Gold Rings or Power Rings, are one of the most distinctive and recurring features in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. These golden rings serve as important (if not the most important) gameplay devices, which are usually spread throughout the levels and can be collected during gameplay.

Contents

Overview

As mentioned above, rings are spread by hundreds throughout the levels in the Sonic series and can be collected upon contact. Possessing rings allows the playable character to survive attacks or impacts with enemies or any dangerous obstacles, such as spikes, fire pits, lava, etc., that would otherwise cost the player a life. As long as the player is in the possession of at least one ring, they can avoid most lethal attacks. Upon colliding with a hazard, the on-screen character is thrown backwards and given a momentary period of invulnerability (represented by a rapid flashing between visible and invisible). The dropped rings burst out of the character in a circular pattern and bounce around the environment, flashing for a few seconds before disappearing entirely. During this brief period, it is possible for the player to recover some of the rings they lost. Generally fewer "recoverable" rings are displayed on-screen than the number actually lost (usually a maximum of around twenty; fewer in Sonic games on 8-bit consoles, about fifty in Sonic Rush, while from the Sonic the Hedgehog 4 saga onward the player can recover 32). If the player suffers damage without possessing any rings, the player will lose a life.

Certain causes of death cannot be prevented by even when holding a ring, including being crushed by obstacles, falling into a bottomless pit, failing a mission held through a time limit and drowning.

In line with many platform games, collecting a hundred of these common collectibles will usually reward the character with an extra life. Certain titles in the series often reward the collection of other quantities of rings, often in conjunction with the Chaos Emeralds; usually, at least fifty Rings are required to access the Special Stages in which the Chaos Emeralds may be obtained, or to utilize a character's super transformation.

Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series)

In the Sonic the Hedgehog television series, the Power Rings were invented by Sir Charles Hedgehog for Sonic to battle villains. They are generated by a machine, powered by the Power Rock, which is located in the Power Ring pool in the Great Forest. One Power Ring rises to the surface every day (two very day later on) and if not caught, it sinks back underwater.

The Power Rings' energies can only be harnessed by Sonic, which he can use to temporarily boost his speed. Additionally, they can be used to temporarily restore the free will of a roboticized victim and block a Roboticizer.

Sonic the Comic

In Sonic the Comic, the Golden Rings are an apparently naturally-occurring phenomenon of Planet Mobius. They were used by Doctor Ovi Kintobor in conjunction with his Retro-Orbital Chaos Compressor (ROCC) to transfer most of the evil energy on Mobius into six Chaos Emeralds.[1] They possessed strange properties (possibly inherently, or possibly as a result of their use in the ROCC) and emitted special Ring Energy. Robotnik was able to use the rings to power his Neutrino Accelerator.[2] According to Tails, this Ring Energy was also responsible for Sonic's first transformation into Super Sonic, although Sonic had absorbed so much Ring Energy over the years that later transformations were caused purely by stress.[3]

During the explosion of the ROCC, Kintobor's personality was once somehow imprinted on a Golden Ring. Porker Lewis was able to use this ring to create the Kintobor Computer.[4]

Larger versions of the Golden Rings, known as Mobius Rings, which lead to other dimensions such as the Special Zone, are located all over Mobius.[5]

In Sonic Colors(Wii version only), Sonic Unleashed (PS2/Wii versions) and Sonic Lost World (temporally on the Wii U version only, later fixed via downloadable-content), the player is not awarded an extra life if he/she collects 100 rings, unlike the rest of the Sonic series.

A joke was made in Sonic Generations in which both Classic and Modern Tails were discussing about how many rings Sonic collects and where he puts them.

Shadow the Hedgehog is the first game in the main series where a playable character does not drop all rings when hit. In this game, Shadow drops only ten rings when hit. Sonic Unleashed continues this with Sonic dropping fifty percent of his rings when hit (provided he has forty or more). In Sonic Generations Sonic loses eighty percent of his rings when hit (provided he has twenty or more).

Rings are mentioned in the cartoon Gravity Falls by the character Dipper Pines. In episode 10 (Fight Fighters), he rattles off a string of different video game power-ups, one of which happens to be "rings".

In Wreck-It Ralph, rings also appear; first when Sonic gets hit by an escape pod Ralph is piloting and later during the credits when it shows Sonic battling Eggman and also getting hit.

Rings are not the only form of currency in Sonic's world - for instance, when Sonic Colors is set to Japanese, the cutscene before the Tropical Resortboss has different dialogue in which Dr. Eggman, Sonic and Cubot haggle the price of the ride using yen. Yen is also referenced in some of Eggman's in-game announcements.